I saw this one in Target along with The Heretic Queen and I couldn’t resist not picking them up because of the great covers. I’m glad I did because Nefertiti was picked as a group read for Historical Fictionistas and Michelle Moran ended up joining the group and getting in the discussion. She really is interesting and sweet to talk too, if you ever get the chance.

While I was reading this I couldn’t help being reminded of The Other Boyelan Girl, but with an Egyptian setting. The first reason lies in the perspective of the story. The book details Nefertiti’s rise to power and her eventual downfall as told through Mutnodjmet, Nefertiti’s younger and lesser known sister. Mutny is the gentler, less pretty sister not really interested in court politics, but nevertheless thrown into the mist of it due her family’s ambitions. Quite honestly, Mutny and her future husband are really the only likeable characters in this book. Both Amohotep and Nefertiti come off as over ambitious, reckless, selfish and bratty. The parents as well come off as cruel and over ambitious with all their planning and scheming to get Nefertiti the crown. However, it seems to work coming from the perspective of Mutny.

The second reason this reminds me of The Other Boleyan Girl is because of the liberties taken with the historical piece of the story. It’s definitely a fictional account, so if you are into history and don’t like your authors taking liberties don’t read this one or you will be annoyed. Personally, I don’t mind…I’m reading for entertainment reasons anyway and if I want a history lesson I will go to google or a non-fiction book, which is what I did after reading this. The story left me wanting to read more on Nefertiti to discover the mystery behind her. What I did like was that Moran added a historical note at the end of the book explaining what liberties she took and her reasoning. This helped me put the story into perspective and figure out what I needed to research further.

Over all I thought the book was well done despite the historical changes and I highly enjoyed it due to its entertainment value. I can’t wait to read more by Moran.